Listen in! Best audiobooks of 2025Like this list

31 items

• I Who Have Never Known Men

  Harpman, Jacqueline

  Add I Who Have Never Known Men to your for later shelf

  This is the end, my friend, the end. This strange, bleak, stark work of speculative / dystopian fiction is gobsmackingly good. The nameless narrator is at the end of her life, and she looks back as her time as a prisoner, and the time after that…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Station Eleven

  Mandel, Emily St. John, 1979-

  Add Station Eleven to your for later shelf

  I can't believe it has taken me so long to read this modern classic. I love Emily St John Mandel's books, I am intrigued by apocalyptic dystopias, and stories that move around in time and into the future. But so glad I finally did, because this book…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Story of a Murder

  The Wives, the Mistress and Dr Crippen

  Rubenhold, Hallie

  Add Story of a Murder to your for later shelf

  I think this book will rewrite history. Belle Elmore - murdered by her husband Dr Crippen - has been painted as loud, annoying, almost deserving her grisly fate. This book reveals the lies and misogyny behind that perspective. Hallie Rubenhold…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Peepshow

  the Murders at 10 Rillington Place

  Summerscale, Kate, 1965-

  Add The Peepshow to your for later shelf

  A well-researched book about infamous murders in London. Not only do we find out about the murderer Reg Christie, we learn about a previous murder at 10 Rillington Place for which another man was executed. The author uncovers the stories of the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Paradise Logic

  Kemp, Sophie

  Add Paradise Logic to your for later shelf

  It was the cover/s that caught my attention first, and a eye-popping Guardian review. Quirky, post-modern, experimental - it is wonderfully fruity, linguistically exciting, a weird oddball of a story. I love it. Have bought a copy to keep. Reality…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The CIA Book Club

  the Best-kept Secret of the Cold War

  English, Charlie

  Add The CIA Book Club to your for later shelf

  This is a brilliant story, absolutely compelling history. It tells the hidden story of how CIA influence supported initiatives to bring censored literature into the Eastern bloc. That's part of it, but it's much more that - it's a history of the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Exalted

  a Novel

  Dorn, Anna

  Add Exalted to your for later shelf

  I loved Anna Dorn's 2024 book Perfume and Pain so much that I wanted to explore her other books pronto. Happy to report Exalted is as strong - it's splendidly trashy, au courant, funny AF, and sharp sharp SHARP in its pointed observations. We enjoy…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Whack Job

  a History of Axe Murder

  James, Rachel McCarthy

  Add Whack Job to your for later shelf

  A fascinating history from the earliest moments of human (possibly even pre-Homo Sapiens) civilisation to now - via the story of the axe, and the people who have used it to kill. The stories include famous axe murders/murderers like Lizzie Borden,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Little Life

  Yanagihara, Hanya, 1975-

  Add A Little Life to your for later shelf

  I have wanted to read this for a while, but when I did a photo recreation of the famous cover I decided now is the time. This book is incredibly divisive - people give it one star or five. It's a classic love-hate. It's ten years since it was…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Book of Guilt

  Chidgey, Catherine, 1970-

  Add The Book of Guilt to your for later shelf

  Three identical boys in a big house with three mothers. One girl living a cloistered life with protective parents. A 'Minister of Loneliness' who is working on a scheme to deal with a scientific experiment on its last legs. This is the premise of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Careless People

  a Story of Where I Used to Work

  Wynn-Williams, Sarah

  Add Careless People to your for later shelf

  This book has generated a tonne of interest - and litigation. It's a takedown of Meta / Facebook from the inside by a former NZ diplomat who went to work for Facebook. It deserves the hype. Not only does Sarah Wynn-Williams expose the people and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Is a River Alive?

  Macfarlane, Robert, 1976-

  Add Is a River Alive? to your for later shelf

  A beautiful journey into the rivers and into nature. Aotearoa New Zealand plays a significant part in this story because of the fight to protect the Whanganui River, and the Te Awa Tupua Act, which recognises the river as alive, an ancestor to the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Mushroom Tapes

  Garner, Helen, 1942-

  Add The Mushroom Tapes to your for later shelf

  The book and audiobook arrived for me at the same time, so I had to make a quick call. I went for the audiobook, which I think was a good choice as this book started off as a potential podcast. You get to hear from each of the authors - who are…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Flesh

  Szalay, David,

  Add Flesh to your for later shelf

  We spend time with Istvan - from a young man (who something happens to) - to his later years. And in this book, it feels like things happen to him, many of which he seems to have no agency or control over. What stands out in Flesh is a powerfully…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Different Kind of Power

  a Memoir

  Ardern, Jacinda, 1980-

  Add A Different Kind of Power to your for later shelf

  Jacinda talks about her life and her career in politics. This is far more in-depth than the average political memoir with anecdotes and revelations, as well as true insight into what makes her tick. Works well as an audiobook - Jacinda is renowned…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Bookseller at the End of the World

  Shaw, Ruth (Bookseller)

  Add The Bookseller at the End of the World to your for later shelf

  Ruth Shaw tells the story of her life, and the story of her bookshops. This memoir has been hugely popular, and a sequel is coming out this year. It has been on my to-read list for a long time, but a conversation led to me getting out the audiobook…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Atmosphere

  Reid, Taylor Jenkins

  Add Atmosphere to your for later shelf

  A captivating Sapphic love story set against the background of NASA and space exploration in the 1980s.

• Slags

  Unsworth, Emma Jane

  Add Slags to your for later shelf

  I picked this because of the title and the cover. And I'm glad I did. It's great - all the juicy content of a potboiler but written so well it's literary. We hang out with Sarah at two stages in her life - when she was 15 and crushing on music and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• She's Always Hungry

  Clark, Eliza, 1994-

  Add She's Always Hungry to your for later shelf

  The topics here range from ickily gross body horror, raw modern life, intriguing sci fi, and even the life and times of an epoch-spanning alien vampire. These are short stories that hook you in instantly!

• We Pretty Pieces of Flesh

  Brown, Colwill

  Add We Pretty Pieces of Flesh to your for later shelf

  This is the story of three Donny (Doncaster) Girls - Rach, Shaz and Kel - and their lives from young teen really keen to grow up, wear makeup, go to Family Planning, drink, and get with lads - to early 30s when things in their lives are hard. It…Read moreRead more of this annotation